THE MOST URGENT CONCERNS OF THE ICT INDUSTRY

The advancement of technology. "The developed and developing countries from different parts of the world are now jumping into the 3G (third generation mobile phone) bandwagon. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will effectively reduce overseas calls from $0.40 to $0.10. We embrace these new technologies because of the benefits they will give to the public. We had held discussions with the industry players which have given their feedback on the guidelines we recently issued about 3G and VoIP."

Reduction of the cost of connectivity. "Allowing an enabling environment to permit the entry of new telecom players, including but not limited to ISPs, to provide ICT and ICT-related services, thus promoting healthy market competition."

The problems in the cable industry. "The cable industry has been recently plagued by piracy and we want to help them out on this. We wish to function as an intermediary between the cable operators and the program providers. There is also a need to set guidelines that will prevent ruinous competition and a situation where one cable company lords it over one area to the disadvantage of the rest."

THE NTC'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2004

Encouraging healthy competition. "In the past years, the NTC's prime problem was the interconnection of the small telecom players with the giants of the industry dominating the field and monopolizing the telecoms grid. There was a dearth in the number of telephones installed, making business investments suffer. With the NTC leading the field in demonopolization, armed with the mandate of dividing the telecoms field into ten service areas and opening the gateways to foreign nations, investors again began to take a good look at our telecoms industry and consider our country in their business plans and programs."

Service to the citizen. "The establishment of the One Stop Public Assistance Center (OSPAC) in the Central Office and Regional Offices tremendously helped address problems regarding stolen cell phones. When reported, the OSPAC in coordination with cell phone companies block the units and make them unserviceable. People who receive malicious and unsolicited text and fraudulent SMS are encouraged to report these to NTC for proper legal action and disposition."

THE ROAD AHEAD

Human Resource Development for ICT. "The country is well positioned to become a world-competitive and knowledge-based economy. However, the government should continue to support and develop the quality of its human capital in ICT by providing opportunities for skills development and training, and by adopting national standards certification systems comparable with the rest of Asia to ensure the supply of quality ICT professionals/workers."

The eNTC project. "We envision an electronically-enabled NTC that will energize the ICT industry, enable the stakeholders, and empower the organization. This will improve industry monitoring and generate additional revenues, help develop a robust and globally competitive ICT industry, and transform and empower NTC employees into knowledge workers equipped with IT skills and know-how."

Fiscal autonomy. "For several years now, we turn in from P1.5 to P1.8 billion in revenues to the national government annually. That means—based on the NTC income, annual budget, and budget of personal services—each NTC employee contributes around P2.63 million to the government. Yet we are only allocated a measly P145 million a year. Fiscal autonomy will boost our resources, enable us to grow with our counterparts among developing countries, and match their standards, and exponentially help us improve our services to the public in the long run."